OFW remittances

may have partly affected remit the Bangko Sentral explained.

The BSP said the countries that registered the biggest declines in cash remittances in September were Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Australia.

For Saudi Arabia, the decline in remittances could partly be the result of the continued repatriation of OFWs under the Saudi Arabian Amnesty Program that started in March 2017, it said,

The Saudi government extended the amnesty program anew on September 26, 2017 and a total of 8,467 undocumented Filipinos had already availed of the initial offer, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

For the first nine months of 2017, cash remittances recorded 3.8 percent growth from a year ago, reaching $20.78 billion.

Cash remittances from landbased and sea- based workers grew by 3.8 percent and 3.5 percent to reach $ 16.4 billion and $4.4 billion, respectively, the central bank said.

It added that cash remittances coming from the United States, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom, Qatar, Kuwait, Germany and Hong Kong comprised about 72 percent of total cash remittances in the first nine months of 2017.

Growth driver

Despite the fall of remittances in September, analysts said it remained a key driver of economic growth.

“Supported by remittances, we expect tomorrow’s (today’s) third quarter GDP (gross domestic product) report to reveal private consumption remaining the main driver of GDP growth,” ING Bank senior economist Joey Cuyegkeng said.

Cuyegkeng said real household spending growth of close to 6 percent and GDP growth of 6.6 percent in the third quarter was expected.

DBS economist Gundy Cahyadi also said that strong remittances were behind consumption growth.

“For now, we continue to think that remittances are on track to hit $ 27 to $ 28 billion for the year,” he said.